Five minutes to midnight
by RocknRollagirl
Summary: Castiel used to think he was rather well versed in all things human. Spending New Years Eve with the Winchesters makes him realize there might be a few things left to learn.


**Hello there:)**

 **I couldn´t resist writing something for New Year´s Eve this year, and here is what I came up with. This is set in season 10, but only because a certain issue is mentioned in one or two sentences, so a slight spoiler warning if you haven´t seen it yet. Neither the characters nor the lyrics used here belong to me(shocking, right?)**

 **A huge thank you goes to Soncnica who took the time to beta:)**

Castiel used to think he was rather well versed in all things human, considering he had not only known a few particular humans pretty well for a pretty long time now, but had actually been human himself, however shortly. But so far today´s events had proven that there was still a lot left to learn about human traditions and behavior.

When the Winchesters invited him to celebrate the New Year´s Eve with them he had been slightly surprised. He knew, of course, that people celebrated the end of a calendar year and the beginning of another, but he didn´t really understand why this was a cause for celebration and he had no idea how exactly they went about it. It wasn´t like they celebrated the beginning of the New Year the last time December slipped into January or, come to think of it, any time before. It wasn´t like they had time to celebrate much of anything during the apocalypse, or when they fought the Leviathans, or when Sam was doing the things considered, they probably shouldn´t be celebrating it now, shouldn´t be spending the time that might be used for finding a cure for the Mark on something this trivial, but when he voiced his concerns to Dean, the man had simply answered: "It´s just for one night, Cas. One night of fun", and there was something in his voice that made it impossible for the angel to turn him down.

So he came, just like Charlie and Jody did, and so far the evening had been a blur of food and alcohol and music and alcohol and laughter and games that included the consumption of alcohol most of the time. Countless rounds of truth or dare, spin-the-bottle and never-have-I-ever left him with fingernails painted in neon green and more disturbing mental images than the apocalypse had provided him with. Charlie had brought a game called Twister with her that sounded harmless enough when she explained the rules. It didn´t seem that harmless to him anymore after he spent ten minutes hopelessly tangled in Sam´s overgrown limbs, because that was how long it took the others to stop laughing and shooting photos with their phones.

Later in the evening Jody had told them about the European tradition of molybdomancy, where people would meld small pieces of lead over a candle, drop them in water and try to see their future in the resulting shapes. Everyone present had already been sufficiently inebriated at this point, which may explain why they immediately considered it a great idea to try it. Dean had jumped from his chair, made a rather straight beeline for the vaults and returned five minutes later with all the necessary items. They mold the lead, dropped it into a small basin of water and tried to fit the distorted pieces of metal into one of the categories Jody had found on a web site. As soon as Dean discovered that a shape representing a bed warned it´s owner to be careful with their sex life in the coming year, he tried to convince everyone that Sam´s longish, stretched out piece of metal resembled one of the cots he´d had to sleep in "on that camping trip with Dad back in 1992".

Charlie decided her little chunk resembled a crown, since it apparently stands for the gaining of wealth. Sam studied Dean´s piece of lead and came up with the conclusion that it looked like a nail, which was, unlike the other claims, actually pretty accurate. He looked up the meaning of the nail in Jody´s list and his voice sounded stone sober for a second when he said: "It says here that a nail stands for better times coming".

He´d looked at his brother, then, and there was so much conviction and sincerity and something else in his gaze, something Castiel´s alcohol affected brain offered him no words for. Dean, who had stood behind him, held it for a second, before slapping the younger on the shoulder, pointing at Castiel´s chunk of metal and declared that the "unfailing, all –knowing, magical lead oracle" predicted the angel´s upcoming marriage. They had continued their game for some time after that, but eventually, the clock neared midnight.

Now all five of them are standing in front of the television, a glass of sparkling wine in hand, and watch the last few minutes tick by. Nobody speaks. Castiel turns his head a little and something in the expressions of his friends tells him that none of them is actually paying attention to what is happening on screen. He wonders what they might be thinking about. Everything that went wrong this year? Everything they were grateful for? Everything they wished will happen in the future? He tries to think back, think of everything that had happened this year, but somehow, the details blur together in his mind, become irrelevant, because they are all here, now.

"10, 9, 8,…"

The countdown starts and they count along with the rest of the world.

"7, 6, 5, 4, 3, …"

Out of the corner of his eyes Castiel can see that Sam´s eyes are screwed shut, his lips soundlessly forming words as the numbers near zero. Even though he can´t make out what the younger Winchester is saying, he is pretty sure he knows. He closes his eyes and sends his own version of "Please watch out for them" to whoever might be listening.

"2, 1, zero!"

He opens his eyes to the sound of millions of people cheering and clapping on the screen. They clink their glasses together; there are hugs and kisses and one might believe they have just done something extraordinary, simply by living and breathing as time went by. Then again, maybe they did. That is the moment when Charlie starts to sing.

 _"Should auld acquaintance be forgot,_  
 _And never brought to mind?_  
 _Should auld acquaintance be forgot,_  
 _And auld lang syne?"_

She starts softly, more singing to herself than anything, but after the first few words, Jody joins her. Sam follows, and after a few more seconds, Dean begins to hum along. And even though he had made no conscious decision to sing, would have been sure he didn´t even know the words to this song, Castiel could suddenly hear his own voice singing along with his friends.

 _"For auld lang syne, my dear,_  
 _For auld lang syne,_  
 _We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,_  
 _For auld lang syne."_

 **So, that´s it. I wish all of you a great New Year´s Eve and a happy, healthy and all around wonderful year 2016!**


End file.
